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SCSL Press Clippings SPECIAL COURT FOR SIERRA LEONE PRESS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE Small fishing boats briefly skirt the shoreline at Aberdeen before heading out to sea. PRESS CLIPPINGS Enclosed are clippings of local and international press on the Special Court and related issues obtained by the Press and Public Affairs Office as at: Wednesday, 10 October 2007 Press clips are produced Monday through Friday. Any omission, comment or suggestion, please contact Martin Royston-Wright Ext 7217 2 Local News Former CDF Militia Leaders Sentenced by Special Court / SCSL Press Release Page 3 CDF to Now Serve…/ Awoko Page 4 Nigeria, 6 others to Raise $62m for Charles Taylor’s Trial / Awoko Page 5 Minimal Jail Sentences for CDF Accused / Concord Times Page 6 CDF Convicts Sentenced / Premier News Page 7 Short Jail Term for CDF Men / Independent Observer Page 8 CDF Indictees / The New Citizen Page 9 7 Years Sentence for CDF Indictees / The New Citizen Online Page 10 CDF Sentenced / Awareness Times Online Page 11 International News Sierra Leoneans Rate Special Court Highly But Say… / BBC world Service Trust Pages 12-13 BBC Trains Journalists in Transitional Justice Reporting / The Independent Pages 14-15 CDF Leaders Sentenced / The Patriotic Vanguard Page 16 Sierra Leone Court Sentences Militia Leaders to less than 10 years / Associated Press Pages 17-18 Sierra Leone jails pro-govt Militia Chiefs / Reuters Pages 19-20 Sierra Leone Militia Chiefs get six, eight years for War Crimes / Agence France-Presse Pages 21-22 Jail for S Leone Self-defence Duo / BBC Online Pages 23-24 Former S Leone Militia Men Jailed / Aljazeera.net Pages 25-26 Court Jails Sierra Leone Militia Chiefs / Press TV (Iran) Page 27 Former Kamajors Get Lighter Sentences / Christian Monitor Website Page 28 Two Former Militia Leaders Jailed By UN-Backed Tribunal in Country / UN News Page 29 UNMIL Public Information Office Media Summary / UNMIL Pages 30-32 3 Special Court for Sierra Leone Press and Public Affairs Office PRESS RELEASE Freetown, Sierra Leone, 9 October 2007 Former CDF Militia Leaders Sentenced by Special Court Two former leaders of Sierra Leone’s Civil Defence Forces (CDF) militia have received prison sentences following their convictions in August for war crimes committed during the country’s decade-long civil conflict. Justice Itoe said that while both Prosecution and Defence had recommended single, “global” sentences, the Court had decided to hand down separate sentences on each count for which the two accused had been found guilty. Moinina Fofana, who was convicted on 4 counts of the 8-count indictment, received sentences of 6 years for Count 2 (murder), 6 years for Count 4 (cruel treatment), 3 years for Count 5 (pillage), and 4 years for Count 7 (collective punishments). Allieu Kondewa, who was convicted on 5 counts, received sentences of 8 years for Count 2 (murder), 8 years for Count 4 (cruel treatment), 5 years for Count 5 (pillage), 6 years for Count 7 (collective punishments), and 7 years for Count 8 (conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities). Prosecutors had asked for longer terms of imprisonment, but Presiding Judge Justice Benjamin Itoe, in reading out today’s sentencing judgment, pointed to a number of mitigating factors which the Court held justified shorter sentences. These included the CDF’s efforts to restore Sierra Leone’s democratically- elected government which, the Trial Chamber noted, “contributed immensely to re-establishing the rule of law in this Country where criminality, anarchy and lawlessness...had become the order of the day”. The Court ordered that the sentences be served concurrently, meaning that Fofana will serve a total of 6 years and Kondewa will serve an 8 year sentence. The sentences will run from 29 May 2003, the date the two were taken into custody by the Special Court. #END 4 Awoko Wednesday, 10 October 2007 5 Awoko Wednesday, 10 October 2007 6 Concord Times Wednesday, 10 October 2007 7 Premier News Wednesday, 10 October 2007 [First part of article was omitted from newspaper] 8 Independent Observer Wednesday, 10 October 2007 9 The New Citizen Wednesday, 10 October 2007 10 The New Citizen Online Wednesday, 10 October 2007 http://www.thenewcitizen-sl.com 7 years sentence for CDF indictees Justice Itoe revealed that the date for the commencement of the jail term for the two CDF indictees takes effect from the date of their arrest, i.e. 29th May 2003 to the day of sentencing. According to the Presiding Judge, this means that Moinina Fofanah and Allieu Kondewa who were indicted on eight-court charges would now serve a jail term of three and four years respectively. The two former leaders of the Sierra Leone CDF militia were convicted of war crimes committed during Sierra Leone’s civil war. Trial Chamber 1 convicted Moinima Fofanah and Allieu Kondewa on a four-count with murder, cruel treatment, pillage and collective punishment while Allieu Kondewa was convicted on an additional count for the recruitment of child combatants under the age of 15. The three judge panel consisting of the Presiding Judge, Justice Benjamin Itoe, Justices Bankole Thompson and Pierre Boutet found the two indictees not guilty of two-counts of crimes against humanity and one-count of war crimes. Furthermore, Moinina Fofanah was not found guilty on the charge of recruiting child combatants. Delivering the verdict, Justice Itoe asserted that the sentence would sent a strong signal to anybody or pro-democracy civilian or militia groups to desist utilizing children as instruments of war in addition to strictly abiding to internationally accepted standards of war such as the Geneva Conventions and its additional protocols. 11 Awareness Times Online Tuesday, 9 October 2007 http://awarenesstimes.com/drwebsite/publish/index.shtml CDF Sentenced. Former CDF Director of War, Moinina Fofana, and Chief Initiator, Dr. Alieu Musa Kondewa, were this afternoon sentenced to six years and 8 years, respectively for their roles in the eleven- year civil war in Sierra Leone. Mr. Fofana received a sentence of six years less time already served in which case, he will serve an additional 21 months in prison. Dr. Kondewa received a sentence of eight years less time already served in which case, he will serve an additional 45 months in prison by our calculations. Fofana and Kondewa were leaders of the government-sponsored Civil Defence Forces (CDF) who fought alongside the West African defence force, ECOMOG, and loyal Sierra Leone armed forces to restore the democratically elected government of former President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. Following the war, Kabbah and his government distanced themselves from the CDF and their leaders, including Kabbah’s former Deputy Minister of Defence and National Coordinator of the CDF, Chief Samuel Hunga Norman. Norman died while awaiting verdict in his trial in a prison cell in Senegal on February 22, 2007. Voters in Sierra Leone last month voted out Kabbah’s government in part due to their betrayal and neglect of Mr. Norman and the CDF, which twice took up arms to restore Kabbah and his government. Mr. Fofana and Dr. Kondewa were both found guilty August 2, 2007 on four counts each of violations of protocols of war under Article III Common to the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols collectively known as war crimes. Additionally, Dr. Kondewa was found guilty on one count of international humanitarian laws for recruitment and enlistment of child soldiers. Neither of the CDF Accused was found guilty of the most serious offence of Crimes Against Humanity. The lone Sierra Leonean jurist on the Trial Chamber, Professor Roslo Bankole Thompson, rejected the majority verdict with a strongly worded dissenting opinion in favour of a not-guilty verdict for the CDF Accused. His two foreign colleagues, Canadian jurist, Pierre Boutet, and Cameroonian, Benjamin Mutanga Itoe, ruled against the CDF. The prosecutor on September 24 asked the court for a thirty-year prison sentence for each of the CDF leaders. Counsels for Dr. Kondewa and Mr. Fofana, Charles Francis Margai and Michiel Pestman, respectively, had asked the court for lighter sentences including four years for Fofana and three years for Kondewa. Margai and Pestman representing are expected to launch an appeal to the sentences for their respective clients. Should they fail in their appeals, the president of the country where the men are sent to serve their sentences will have the prerogative to ask the court for a pardon. The lone Sierra Leonean jurist on the three-judge panel, Prof. Roslo Bankole Thompson, reiterated his earlier objection that the CDF leaders were guilty of any crimes and did not offer any punishment for Mr. Fofana and Dr. Kondewa.. Alfred Munda SamForay CDF Defence Fund. 12 BBC World Service Trust Tuesday, 9 October 2007 Press Release Sierra Leoneans Rate Special Court Highly But Say it Could do Better More than two-thirds of Sierra Leoneans think their country’s UN-backed Special Court has performed well so far, although more than a quarter think the court is putting some of the wrong people on trial, according to a nationwide survey for the BBC World Service Trust. The household survey, carried out in July 2007 with Search for Common Ground and the International Center for Transitional Justice, explores knowledge and attitudes on transitional justice issues in the wake of Sierra Leone’s civil war, which ended five years ago. Sixty-eight percent of respondents say they think the Special Court’s performance to date has been “good” or “excellent.” An overwhelming majority of respondents (96%) say they are aware of the Special Court, although only 4% say they know a lot about its proceedings.
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